Freya (character)
Freya (Frei in the Japanese version) is a major character in Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. Personality Freya is a cold, calm figure who is uncharacteristically supportive of the valkyrie. She is a well spoken and powerful goddess, holding within her the power that governs the birth of all beings. She has supreme authority and power, second only to that of Odin, and demands respect for it. As an Aesir, Freya has command over parts of the world, her's being creation and death. This power that the Aesir possess has lead Freya to believe all other races are worthless in comparison to the Aesir, and she express her contempt for them quite openly. Freya's demeanour towards other people depends on what terms they stand before her with. For example, when Lenneth first encounters her in Valkyrie Profile, Freya greets her with a hug, and tells her it would be unkind to send her into Midgard unaided. In contrast, she sees Lenneth as expendable once she begins to regain her memories, and subsequently gains new feelings and sympathy for humans. Non Aesir are all classed as inferior and unworthy of Freya's attention. When Alicia sets the conditions for Hrist accompanying them to The Tower of Lezard Valeth in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Freya is enraged and attacks Alicia, Rufus and Arngrim, but spares Hrist, due to her status as an Aesir. Background ''Valkyrie Profile'' ''Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria'' We first see Freya attending to Odin in Chapter 4, where she dismisses Hrist's doubts of removing the Dragon Orb from Midgard. Freya then orders Hrist to destroy Dipan. We do not see Freya again until the end of the chapter. During Silmeria and Hrist's duel inside Dipan Castle, the undead mages Walther and Gyne cast the Sovereign's Rite on the two Valkyries. During the spell, Freya teleports from Asgard in an attempt to stop a crisis. As Brahms prepares an attack,to save Silmeria and Hrist, Freya teleports beyond Brahms an attempt to crystalize him, Silmeria senses this and trys to prevent Brahms from being frozen. However due to Lezard going back in time and stopping this, Silmeria fails and is captured by Lezard and Freya suceeds in capturing Brahms. These events were a paradox. Lezard Valeth was not meant to be present at the duel, and thus altered history's course. Silmeria was meant to be crystallised by Freya and stolen by Brahms, thereby creating the events that preceded Valkyrie Profile. Chapter 5 begins with a conversation between Odin and Freya. Here, Freya talks of the disturbance she felt in Dipan, and her fears of what it means. Odin tells her not to worry. After Odin's defeat atop Yggdrasil and the revelation of Lezard's true nature, Freya quickly teleports there in a frantic state telling Odin that Lezard's presence was the distortion she felt at Dipan. Lezard throws her into a crystal, knocking her out. Odin cries out her name in anger and attempts to attack Lezard, but instead ends up being transferred into Rufus. Lezard then absorbs Odin's soul, and becomes the new master of Gungnir, and teleports away. Freya recovers, and teleports back to Asgard, distraught. There, Freya has a vision of Odin in Valhalla, but is saddened when she realises it was only a vision. Hrist comes into the room, and is ordered by Freya to hunt down Lezard and recover Silmeria. Hrist enlists Arngrim's help, but he declines. At the Water Mirror, Hrist strikes up a bargain with Alicia. However, Freya was eavesdropping on the conversation. Once Hrist agrees, she comes out of hiding to say "Humans negotiating with gods?! Never!", reflecting her distaste for humans. She then attacks the party, and a boss battle ensues. After the party's defeat (or hers), Freya continues to assault Arngrim, Alicia, and Rufus. She attempts to destroy Arngrim, causing Hrist to attack, saying that she will not tolerate attacks on her Einherjar. Hrist then attacks her, and it appears she is defeated. As the heroes prepare to leave, Freya launches a final assault. Hrist counters this by using the Dragon Orb, and the protagonists escape. Freya then lowers the shield she conjured, and says "All I can do is entrust our fate to you. Lenneth." This is the last in-game scene in which Freya speaks and appears. ''Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume'' Freya makes a cameo in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. If Wylfred sacrifices one of his comrades to fulfill his quest for vengeance, it will trigger her senses as an "unknown evil". She remains vigilant of the power and decides to observe its progress, choosing to end it if it continues to grow. At the conclusion of one scenario, she appears to claim Lenneth's soul as her body was defeated by Wylfred. Unamused by his mad joy, she squashes his sense of victory by informing him that he only destroyed her vessel. Valkyrie souls are immortal and only revisit the chain of reincarnation. Freya takes Lenneth's floating soul and teleports back to Valhalla to report the transgression of events to Odin. They surmise that Lenneth's compassion for mortals lead to her demise and decide to seal the valkyries' memories from then on. At the conclusion of another scenario, Lenneth's Einherjar is taken in the place Wylfred by entity known as Ailyth. The Battle Maiden then takes up sword against the demon-woman demanding her Einherjar be returned. Before Lenneth makes a move, the demon woman warns the Valkyrie that reckless action may ignite war between Nifleheim and Asgard and then Ailyth nonchalantly takes her leave. Lenneth becomes very distraught over the loss of her Einherjar Thyodor. Freya and Odin make mention they have seen similar signs in Silmeria as well and together they decide to strip away all of her memory but her duty upon her next awakening so that her empathy may not be a hinderance. Battle ''Valkyrie Profile'' Freya is a powerhouse fighter. She is extremely powerful, but has a one second delay before the launch of her attacks making her tricky to master. All her attacks are imbued with multi-hit capabilities which help to rack up damage and increase the special bar. Attacks *Critical Flare *Aerial Burst *Thunder Sword Elemental tolerances Purify Weird Soul Freya's PWS is Ether Strike. It is one of the most powerful in the game, and can deal over 500,000 damage in ideal situations. ''Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria'' Freya is one of the strongest characters in the game. She has well rounded stats and unique attacks. She will join with an Ether Laser (innate Giant Killer ability), Ether Crown, Eternal Shine, Ether Shield and Ether Greaves. Her initial skills are Heroism, True Seeing and Giant Killer. She is also the only character capable of reaching full Heat in a single attack - Heavenly Punishment, which costs 42 AP. Attacks *Burst Shot - Initial *Thunder Strike - Initial *Victory Sword - Initial *Flank Attack - Level 51 *Crimson Strike - Level 54 *Smackdown - Level 57 *Mystic Chain - Level 60 *Heavenly Punishment - Level 63 *Crisis Point - Level 66 *Mobius Slide - Level 69 Tolerances *Holy +20% *Darkness +30% All other elements are neutral Soul Crush Freya utilizes the unique Soul Crush, Ether Strike. This Soul Crush has a total of 20 hits, and increases the Heat Gauge by 46 points. Freya's quote before her Ether Strike is launched is "Prepare to be purified!" ''Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume'' Freya is the sole member of the Giver of Life class, a class with a movement range of five panels and an attack range of two panels (including diagonal panels). She is the only recruitable character that can fly. Givers of Life can equip ether-themed invisible weapons as their weapon and have very limited access to equipment. Being female allows her to wear Tiaras but unable to wear the Veleor Dress like other females. The delay in her attacks is much shorter in this version and she exchanges the attack Aerial Burst for "Sacred Might". Freya stands-out from the other classes by being excellent in both damage output and hit generation with her high-damaging, multi-hit attacks, a common trait of nearly all Seraphic Gate characters, and her attacks are second only to Reinhilde's in terms of total damage output. But despite this advantage, Freya is the only character who can surpass Reinhilde's damage output. This is because while Reinhilde's attacks are stronger, Freya has the highest ATK stat growth in the game. However, if Reinhilde and Freya were to have an equal ATK stat, Reinhilde's damage output will be much higher. The trade-off is her limited access to equipment will hamper her longevity in battle. Her high stat growth helps remedy this somewhat and high movement range as well as her ability to fly can help her flee if the battle grows too intense. Ether Strike, like in the previous games, is the stongest Soul Crush among all characters. Freya can perform nearly all offensive tasks assigned to her proficiently if played with caution to her likelihood to fall in battle. Attacks *Critical Flare *Sacred Smiting *Thunder Sword Tolerances *Darkness Soul Crush Freya once again uses Ether Strike for her Soul Crush. It raises the gauge by 50 points. Before each use she will call out, "Prepare to be Purified!" If Freya is the enemy opponent she will do a different pose and may call out, "Your corpses shall feed the ravens!" Sacrifice Freya cannot be sacrificed. Recruitment ''Valkyrie Profile'' Freya temporarily joins the party in Chapter 0 and will leave afterwards. She does not participate in the boss battle against the Elder Vampire, but lends a Reiter Pallasch to Lenneth for the battle. Freya can be recruited in the Seraphic Gate by defeating her. The room where she is located is locked by a door that can only be opened with a Flame Jewel, so she is only available in the Hard mode. ''Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria'' Freya will join the party after the boss Frigga is defeated on the 4th Floor of the Seraphic Gate. ''Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume'' Freya is recruited upon defeat at the ninth floor of the Seraphic Gate. Cameos *'Star Ocean: Till the End of Time' :Freya makes an appearance as the final optional superboss in "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time". Similar to Lenneth, she appears to be a member of the Menodix race - a humanoid race with beastly traits, such as tails and cat ears. In battle, her ultimate attack is a multiple hitting, heavy HP and MP damaging, 90% battlefield-covering "Ether Strike" that will instantly kill any character caught in its path. Freya also gains attacks and spells which she did not previously have. The music played during the battle is a new arrangement of "The True Nature of All". In the Japanese version, her voice samples from "Valkyrie Profile" are reused but sped up to sound higher pitched as to match her childlike appearance. Other versions feature new voice samples from a different voice actress. If defeated, she drops the "Ether Frozen", the most powerful staff in the game. Unlike Lenneth, she can be fought multiple times. *'Lord of Vermillion' :Freya appears as a recruitable character in "Lord of Vermillion" - an arcade, card-based war-strategy game that can be played locally or online. She can use "Ether Strike" as a special attack. This game has not been released outside Japan. Boss :Main article: Freya (boss) Quotes ''Valkyrie Profile'' ;Battle start *''Hmm... these beasts will be a good test!'' *''These beasts are an offense to me!'' *''Ah, it's been so long since I fought in Midgard!'' *''What a miserable existence...'' ;Performing Ether Strike *''Prepare to be cleansed! Divine Assault — Ether Strike!'' ;Enemy killed by Ether Strike *''To stand against a god... such is your reward.'' *''Such filthy creatures...'' *''Let the worms feed on thy flesh!'' *''I am Freya! Recall the name on your journey to hell!'' ;Enemy survives Ether Strike *''It would've been better for you to have fallen...'' *''You have not long on this world, monster!'' *''Stand fast! I will finish you soon!'' *''Fool! Know you not your own foolishness?!'' ;Attack with Thunder Sword *''Can you withstand this?!'' ;Hit *''You'll pay for that!'' ;Counter *''Your mistake!'' *''Is that all?'' *''I'll reduce you to dust!'' ;Death *''NOOOOOOOOOO!'' *''This... cannot... be...!'' ;Battle won *''Easy work for a god.'' *''One day I must face Brahms...'' *''As expected, we are the victors.'' Etymology Freya was originally named Frei in the Japanese version, but it has been conjugated as Fray as well. Since Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, her name has been romanized as Freya. See Frei for the derivation of the name. Frei's name was changed to Freya in the NA nad PAL versions. The name Freya stems from the name of a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, sorcery, war, and death. Though she was a "warrior goddess" in the sense that she was frequently depicted with the shield and spear, Freya was never able to cause destruction like Valkyrie Profile's Freya. She was also quite a bit kinder. The Norse Freya also knew the fate of every living thing, and every thing which would happen. It is unknown whether Valkyrie Profile's Freya also possess this knowledge. Freya's name in the second Valkyrie Profile in the Seraphic Gate, Frigga, was, depending on the myth, an alternative name for the goddess, or a separate being entirely and Odin's wife. Trivia *Freya and Frei's names were switched for releases outside of Japan to better fit the descriptions of both gods in Norse Mythology. *Freya in the Seraphic Gate is very vain. She will mercilessly strike anyone who suggest she appears old as well as anyone not praising her beauty. *During a battle against Woden or Frigga with Freya present in the battle, she does not give any spare dialogue. ''Valkyrie Profile'' *The costume of Freya's in-game sprite looks nothing like her official artwork nor her concept art, lacking the white parts in her hat and the gold in her outfit. *One of Freya's victory quotes refer to Brahms, which she will ironically say even if Brahms is in the party (on Seraphic Gate). ''Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria'' *Unlike the other recurring characters, Freya does not inherit any of her old attacks. Although they bear some similarities, all of her attacks are entirely new. As a boss she does retain her old attack Thunder Sword however. *Freya's appearance in this game is based on the costume she wears in Valkyrie Profile. ''Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume'' *Despite being female, Freya is unable to equip the Veleor Dress. She shares this trait with Lenneth, Hrist, and Ailyth. *Freya inherits two of her old attacks from Valkyrie Profile, but adds an entirely new attack to her move-list. *Freya dons a new costume. Her appearance in Lord of Vermillion is based on the costume she wears in this game. Gallery Image:Freya2.jpg|Freya's Artwork from VP1 freya-vp-psx-opening.jpg|Freya in Valkyrie Profile (PSX) opening Freya VP Lenneth.jpg|Freya, VP Lenneth Image:Bscap182.jpg|Freya in Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria Image:Freya_at_Water_mirror.jpg Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume -Freya-.jpg|VP Covenant of the Plume, Freya Image:Freya-lovermillion.jpg|Freya's portrait in Lord of Vermillion SO3_-_Freya.jpg|Freya From Star Ocean Till The End Of Time (Secret boss) Freya.png|Freya background/wallpaper art. freya011.png|Freya expressions in VPL freya012.png|Freya Art VP1 Category:Character Category:Female Category:Goddess Category:Aesir